Down Under III

Down Under III

I ran the two-day The Strategist Workshop in Sydney on Wednesday and Thursday for a terrific group of 41 people. It was really fun. One person from the States and several Kiwis.

On Friday morning, I keynoted for a legal association, and that wasn’t as much fun! The theme of the conference was about doing things differently and refreshing the profession. I think if you want to do things differently, first you have to smile!

My driver whisked me to the airport, and at the first class ticket desk I was told they were looking for me all morning, since my flight would be three-hours delayed. If they had found me, it wouldn’t have helped. At that point, a very bright, competent, striking woman worked for 40 minutes to get Qantas to reroute me through San Francisco. She then walked me to security and pointed out where the first class lounge was located. I wasn’t upset at all by the problem after that kind of service.

Slept for 8 hours of the 13-hour flight. Waiting in the Admiral’s Club in San Francisco for my Boston flight, I moseyed into the rest room, and found myself at a urinal standing next to a man in a very nice grey suit, well groomed, about six feet tall and in his late 50s. I know this because, abruptly, he turned to me and started talking, and you know that I don’t even speak to people at cocktail parties.

“I’ll be working here tomorrow,” he said.

I was confused. “You mean you work for American Airlines?” I hazarded.

“No, I’ll be right here.”

“Are you an inspector?”

“No, with the market the way it is, by this time tomorrow I’ll be cleaning this rest room. That’s all that will be left for me. How about you?”

“I just had two grandchildren,” I said, “try to maintain some perspective.”

Next time I’ll use the stall.

I’ll be back in Australia in February to run Six to Seven Figures, then will speak for a day in Queenstown, New Zealand. I’ll return again next October. Meanwhile, I’m also in Dublin with the Self-Esteem Workshop in February.

I flew about 24,000 miles on this trip, spoke to a total of over 900 people, spent 9 nights away, and earned something over $135,000 in direct revenue. I was happy to have gone. I’m happy to be home.

© Alan Weiss 2008. All rights reserved.

PS: Latest news on granddaughters is positive after a couple more scares. They are four weeks old, about halfway through their intended hospital stay. Thank you all for your good wishes and prayers. I can’t wait until they weigh as much as Buddy Beagle. (My daughter barely weighs more than Koufax.)